Kenyon in the News

Jim Steen and the men's and women's swimming teams were featured in a March 13 story in the Financial Times. The article opens by noting Steen's opportunity to make history by winning twenty-five straight NCAA championships, then contrasts large universities-which can field strong teams across a range of sports because they offer lavish athletic scholarships-with colleges like Kenyon. "We're not into exploiting individuals for our success," Steen is quoted as saying. "Much the opposite, we feel it's imperative to find individuals who are pretty balanced. We want the person who can put in the hour and a half in the morning and the two hours at night, and then walk away and be a student and a member of the community."

A March 14 story by the Associated Press also featured Jim Steen and Kenyon's swimming dynasty. The Lords competed for their twenty-fifth title March 18 through 20 in St. Peter's, Missouri. According to the Associated Press, Kenyon's championship run is twice as long as the second-best streaks: Arkansas won twelve straight Division I indoor track and field titles from 1984 through 1995, and Hobart took twelve consecutive Division III lacrosse crowns from 1980 through 1991. To date, the story has appeared in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Georgia), the Contra Costa Times (California), the Duluth News Tribune (Minnesota), the Fort Wayne News Sentinel (Indiana), the Macon Telegraph (Georgia), the Monterey County Herald (California), the Myrtle Beacon Sun News (South Carolina), the San Jose Mercury News (California), the San Luis Obispo Tribune (California), and The State (South Carolina).

Steen and the swimming Lords also appeared in the March 16 edition of USA Today. The story includes a photo of Steen and mentions Kenyon as one of a handful of Division III programs that have been not only absurdly successful but so dominant they've ruled over their sports like Colossus. "Coach Steen is an innovator," Gregg Parini, a member of Kenyon's first three title teams and now the swimming coach at archrival Dension University, is quoted as saying.